Advice from the world's most amazing Girl Scout leader!

happybeamy
May 25, 2023
4 min read

Updated: Jul 5, 2023

HI! This week's blog spotlights an interview with my Girl Scout leader, Mrs. Stoermer. I hope you all enjoy getting to know her a little bit and hearing some of her thoughts on being happy!

Luci: Please tell our readers a little bit about yourself, where you work, etc.

Mrs. Stoermer: Ok, so I am fifty-three years old, married with two daughters, and I work at the Carlisle cancer center. I've been in cancer care for thirty years. And I am also a Girl Scout leader. I like to keep the girls involved in things that involve our soldiers, so I am also on the auxiliary of the Amvets, the American Legion, and the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars).

Luci: Ok, thanks. My next question is how do you stay happy and positive when you're at work and when you are outside of work like with your family, friends, or at Girl Scouts?

Mrs. Stoermer: So, that's like something I don't really think about because I feel like most of the time, I am always happy anyway. People at work in the morning are like, "Why are you so happy?" I'm like, "This is just me." You know, I don't know. That is always how I have been. Sometimes the most turmoil in my life is when you have a disagreement with somebody in your family, a family member, and then you have two people trying to get their way and most of that has to do with raising children, so those aren't always happy times. But happy at work is... like my job is really rewarding. I get to help people, and the patients have cancer, but there are things that we used to do. Like in town, we used to do Relay for Life, the Carlisle Relay for Life, and every year we would celebrate life - another candle on the cake. To me, I was amazed year after year, five years, ten years, fifteen. I am doing this twenty years later, and I am seeing patients I treated twenty years ago. That brings great joy and happiness - that you see that the work that you put in and the fight people put up actually can work.

Luci: Wow, that's cool! You are dealing with stuff that can be very hard. Are you somehow able to keep up your happiness more because you see how much life is worth?

Mrs. Stoermer: Kind of. I don't let death and dying bother me. I think everyone should live their day like it is their last. My faith in God makes me not afraid of death, and when people die, when patients die, I am not sad for them. I am sad for their families. I know patients are at peace, and they're with the Lord. Being happy at a cancer center is kind of interesting. It is almost like an oxymoron. But the people, some of the people that are diagnosed with cancer, they don't get out (of their houses). Some of them are older, not all of them, but some of them are older, and they don't get out, and now all of a sudden, you have a little old man diagnosed with prostate cancer, and now he has to come to the cancer center for six weeks of radiation. It ends up being bittersweet. They actually enjoy coming out. They enjoy talking to other patients. They enjoy getting to know the four radiation therapists and hearing our stories and hearing about our families. It's almost like for a little while that cancer diagnosis gave them a little bit of a social life.

Luci: That's cool! How do you stay happy when leading something for Girl Scouts?

Mrs. Stoermer: Leading for Girl Scouts, I don't know. I just like to do stuff. I like to do things in Scouts that I did, and I do things in Scouts that I didn't know about. I didn't go any higher than eighth grade, so I didn't know there were all the things high school kids can do. And I didn't know anything about the Gold, Silver and Bronze awards. And so just bringing that knowledge to people, bringing those opportunities, those choices and you know some of the girls love it and embrace it and some of the girls are just like, "I'm done." The happiness comes from just doing things. I've always been a doer. When I didn't have kids and I still did Girl Scouts when I didn't have kids, but I am also always into volunteering. Don't get me wrong - I like to relax. I just - pretty much always - accentuate the positive. Yeah, my glass is always half full. I always think everything happens for a reason.

Luci: Ok, and the last thing is do you have any just general advice you would like to share with people?

Mrs. Stoermer: If you really think about the serenity prayer, it lets you let go, and it lets you be happy because of the words in that prayer. You can't control everything, and so there is no reason getting upset or angry about the things you can't control. Control what you can, and just live one day at a time. Live every day like it is your last.

Thank you so, so, so much, Mrs. Stoermer! This was a great interview!

Hugs! and Smiles!

Luci and Beamy